I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — an exhibition entitled Gustave Baumann and New Mexico will be at the he New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe through March 20th.
Gustave BaumannFILM NOTES — the BBC plans to produce a film about Laurel & Hardy— portrayed by Steve Coogan (as Stan Laurel) and John C. Reilly (as Oliver Hardy).
AN AWARD was presented by the Chilean government to Ireland’s president Michael Higgins - the first international observer to arrive in Chile (in 1988) to ensure the vote on whether General Augusto Pinochet remained in power was fair, and who has been credited with preventing further atrocities.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Swat Cat— the mascot of the Boston Police Department whose disappearance was noted in this space a few weeks ago … and who has now returned safely.
Return of the SWAT kittehFALLING DIAMOND PRICES have been a test for the nation of Botswana— one of Africa’s most stable and prosperous democracies.
CONSTRUCTION is at various stages to bring subway service to various South American capital cities: one already under construction in Lima, Peru…. groundbreaking just having taken place in Quito, Ecuador…. and engineering studies completed for a future Bogota, Colombia line.
QUOTE #1 for today from Robert Frost:
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there …. they have to take you in.”
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Ah Tsai the Cat— one of the kittehs of Taiwan’s newly-elected first female president Tsai Ing-wen, who says that when they greet her at the door: “(It) always cures me of the whole day’s fatigue”.
Ah Tsai the CatBRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
QUOTE #2 for today from the intrepid blogger Ed Kilgore :
"If you really think about it, the entire message and persona Jeb Bush has tried to present is that he's the candidate the whole party called for in the famous March 2013 RNC ‘autopsy report’: a genial and pragmatic reformer from a key battleground state who speaks Spanish fluently and knows how to talk about avenues to equal opportunity.
It has turned out, to the surprise of many people aside from Bush, that this is actually not what Republican voters seem to have in mind, and they are being stubbornly resistant to the idea of getting back in their places and accepting the candidate or candidates ‘the party’ decides upon".
SEPARATED at BIRTH — film stars Zachary Quinto (the young Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness) as well as Eli Roth (Inglourious Basterds).
Zachary Quinto ... ... and Eli Roth...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… actually, two songs … as I would like to look at the lives of two musical figures whose recent deaths were (understandably) overshadowed by the passing of David Bowie and Glenn Frey. These were two men who (a) achieved a much longer career success in production work, yet who began in the late 60’s music scene, (b) both died of major illnesses that had plagued them for the last few years of their lives, and c) both made cameo appearances on-stage in their final years.
Dale Griffin was an English drummer who later became a producer: setting up his own company at the dawn of the 1980’s that produced albums for bands such as Hanoi Rocks and The Cult. In addition, from 1980 to 1993 he worked on sessions for the legendary BBC Radio-1 host John Peel.
Yet he became known to the music world by his nickname Buffin — whose late 1960’s band (after several personnel changes) morphed into what became Mott the Hoople— and his band-mates included Ian Hunter (who later had a successful solo career) as well as guitarist Mick Ralphs (later a member of Bad Company).
They struggled in the early 1970’s and were planning on breaking up ….. when a fellow British musician offered them a song that broke their careers open in 1972: leading to some other hit songs (such as All the Way From Memphis) that led to (first) a revolving-door of personnel changes, then to an actual break-up in 1976.
Sadly, Buffin was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s in 2006 (at only age 58) and kept a lower profile. In 2009 (which was the 40th anniversary of Mott the Hoople’s advent) a series of reunion concerts were held in London — with the Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers filling-in for Griffin. Yet, when it came time for the encores …. one saw an additional drum set with Buffin behind it, able to at least contribute to the reunion.
Dale ‘Buffin’ Griffin died January 18th, 2016 (in his sleep) at the age of 67 from his illness.
During the band’s heyday .. … and years later in 2009That musician who heard that the band wanted to split in 1971 and persuaded them to stay together was one David Bowie — who died only a week before Dale Griffin. Bowie offered them a song of his to record entitled Suffragette City - which they passed on. Undismayed, Bowie wrote what proved to be the band’s break-out hit.
All the Young Dudes reached #3 in Britain and #37 in the US, and was ranked by Rolling Stone as #256 in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. And none other than Dale ‘Buffin’ Griffin later said, “He wants to give us that? He must be crazy!'"
x YouTube VideoSomeone less-known was a former singer who became a recording and sound engineer in his later career. Gary Loizzo was a Chicagoland native who became the lead singer for the band The American Breed - who began in the early 60’s and eventually disbanded by the end of the 1960’s. They were an integrated band (with African-American bassist Chuck Colbert) and had an early hit with Step Out of Your Mind— plus a much-loved song to be discussed later. (Interestingly, after the band’s demise, some of its members went on to form the funk band Rufus— who later added a young singer named Chaka Khan).
As noted, Loizzo later became a producer and Grammy-nominated recording engineer: working with REO Speedwagon, Liza Minnelli, Jim Peterik of the Ides of March and Survivor, operating Pumpkin Recording Studio from his suburban Chicago home.
Yet it was with the band Styx that he had his greatest success — and though he was battling pancreatic cancer, Gary Loizzo came onstage to sing with the band last September — and it was from that disease that Gary Loizzo died on January 16th at the age of 70.
From the late 1960’s ….. … and in recent yearsThe American Breed’s break-out hit was written by the songwriting team of Scott English and Larry Weiss — who went on to write Hi Ho, Silver Lining (a hit for Jeff Beck) and separately, English wrote “Mandy” (a hit for Barry Manilow) and Weiss wrote “Rhinestone Cowboy” (a hit for Glen Campbell).
This song was first recorded by The Outsiders (Of “Time Won’t Let Me” fame) in 1966, followed by The Models that same year. But it was in 1967 that the American Breed had a hit cover version of Bend Me, Shape Me — which reached #5 in the US charts and #24 in the UK charts.
You can hear Gary Loizzo sing it with that final performance with Styx last September at this link - but below, he sings the original single version ... I fell in love with as a junior high school student.
x YouTube Video